Tag Archives: Bata

The heavy clouds clad in a long veil of grey are hanging over Zlin. It is the same window overlooking the same hills that greeted us for the past 2 days in our Czech home. Yet these clouds make the view so different, so intense. I love such days. The smell of the air is so fresh filled with a threat of a downpour, the scenery opening up to the eye is so crisp, sharp and intense. It is amazing what a difference clouds make to the day. This is the beautiful morning that greeted us on the 7th day of our adventures.

Today we have an important appointment in our calendar – at 13:00 our Rover is going back to the workshop and coming out of there hopefully in tip top condition so we can continue our trip towards our next destination Slovakia!

Until then though there are still a few hours at our disposal, so after packing and saying goodbye to our Czech family, we head to our usual starting point in Zlin – Building No. 21 on tř. Tomáše Bati 21, 760 01 Zlín, aka Bata’s Skyscraper.

Andreas making it absolutely clear that we are standing by the entrance of Building 21 and leading the way into the skyscraper.

Some kind of government function is housed inside the famous building today. But back in its heyday it used to be the headquarters of Bata’s shoe empire. In the 1930s when the construction was completed the 21 was one of the first skyscrapers in Europe. The soul of Bata can still be felt in the long corridors, old elevators and countless of doors lining up all the 16 floors of the skyscraper. The interior was rather reminiscent of the Soviet taste in architecture. Inside we found Bata’s museum and a very interesting exhibition – an elevator that doubled as a personal office of no one else than Thomas Bata himself!

It was quite a sight. Nothing luxurious and imposing to convey Bata’s rank and status. Quite the opposite, the big room was rather modest in decorations. The only “luxury” he allowed himself was to build his office inside an actual elevator so he could move in between the floors, attend meetings, be on the shop floor and check up on his empire with ease. This is one inspiring and visionary CEO I would have loved to have met in person.

Office inside an elevator. What a brilliant idea is that and something that many CEOs could take inspiration from.

Apart from the office-in-elevator there are other interesting details about Bata and his legacy to be learnt in the museum. If you ever make it to Zlin, do stop by Building 21.

After walking through Bata’s history down in the museum, we took an old-fashioned open-door or rather no-door elevator up to the last floor to look at Zlin, the city, boldly dreamt and meticulously realized by Thomas Bata. Up on the top floor of the skyscraper there is a open terrace overlooking the city. There was also a café that looked rather empty and off service when we were there, but it could be open in the summer months.

Rows and rows of mostly identical brick and glass structures. This is Zlin from above.

Rows and rows of mostly identical brick and glass structures. This is Zlin from above. A city inspired by Le Corbusier’s urban modernism, a city designed for function and daily life. Today, decades after their completion, the brick and glass structures still stand tall, however there is a certain air of sadness that has descended on them. Maybe it is the longing for the good old days, maybe it is a cry for maintenance… It is hard to say.

View to the Letna district, where the lovely family hosting us was also living.

After getting our fix of bird’s eye view over the city, we descended back to the ground floor to find the restaurant we read about online. The restaurant turned out to be the canteen for the people working in Building 21 and we arrived right in time for the busy lunch hour.

Luckily we weren’t asked to produce employee IDs, nor asked to pay with a lunch card. After humble attempt at explaining that we would like some food we were shown to an empty table and brought what happened to be the day’s menu of complimentary soup and this delicious lentil and sausage dish.

Though delicious, the lunch was no gourmet 2-hour long affair, we had to be done very quickly and rush back to the car workshop. It is time!

Two happy travellers waiting on the oh-so-familiar sofa on the second floor of the oh-so-familiar Land Rover dealer shop.

Here we are waiting for hours while our car is in the workshop mostly sitting idle waiting for the mechanic to exchange the faulty part. In Zlin we did a lot of waiting but hopefully it will be over today and we can get on the road again.

Finally after around 4 hours of sitting on the oh-so-familiar sofa on the second floor of the oh-so-familiar Land Rover dealer shop and keeping our fingers crossed for the car, we get the news that the Rover is ready! Hurra…!!! After 3 days in Zlin, way behind our schedule we are longing to get on the road and reach Slovakia. After settling the rather fat invoice we, all in smiles of getting the car fixed head to the front where our green-coloured beauty is awaiting us.

Alas today wasn’t our day. After driving for about 10 km the car stops again showing the exact same problem of the engine simply dying. It is past 17:00, the dusk is approaching and there is still a few hours of drive to get us to Slovakia. I am on the verge of screaming, which I do getting on the phone with the workshop guy who was spellbound that after making us wait for days they did NOT fix the right problem and unfortunately cannot do anything anymore today as the workshop is about to close. Having no other choice we drive back to our wonderful Czech family to spend yet another, needless to say, not so carefree night in Zlin.

As Alena, our host was hurrying calming tea and her home-made honey to help us get through the stress of the day, Andreas took the matters in his own hands and spent a few long hours scouring the Internet on the potential causes of the car malfunction. It must have been our day after all, as his patient efforts paid off, and people, real Land Rover aficionados and experts, unlike the official branch we had the “pleasure” of dealing with, knew exactly what was the root cause of the car misbehaviour. And of course it was not the throttle body that the workshop diagnosed and made a hefty invoice for, it was nowhere even close to that. Something quite different and very easy and far cheaper to fix was to be blamed for. But the hour is way past midnight and we need to sleep.

Well, hello there pretty! What a gorgeous view to wake up to. It is a brand new, beautiful day to create some wonderful memories in Zlin, our temporary camp until the car is fixed.

It seems that Andreas made a new friend :)

Our sweet Airbnb host, Alena, has surprised us with a lovely breakfast and the company of her fashionista puppy, which seems to have taken a liking to Andreas. Today’s schedule stands completely free, so after a lazy morning spent savouring this delicious breakfast we are off to a quiet stroll in the city.

Our first stop of the day starts with paying homage to Thomas Bata of Bata Shoes, the mastermind behind Zlin’s modern-day development and its architectural look.

Czech Republic’s answer to Danish ECCO. in Zlin Bata Shoes is more than a shoe store, the company’s legacy is deep engraved in the city.

Zlin lacks the grandeur of Prague, where regardless of which direction you turn your head, a mesmerising vista is right there to make your mind’s Polaroid go wild with processing it to postcards of memories. It is just a small town deep in the countryside, where sophistication has been replaced by functionalism, and the tourist crowds of Prague with the kindest Czech people.

After some obligatory shopping time checking out the local stores we found this inviting patch of green for an impromptu sun-soaking and feet-stretching time.

Slowly soaking in the day we set course to the hills of Zlin into a deep, deep forest to hunt some game for our dinner. After what seemed like eternity of hiking up the hills, but in reality must have been only 30 min or so, we reached our hunting ground.

Our hunting ground for the evening – Black Bear restaurant

Mhh what a delicious 3-course meal that was! The picture above is just one of the highlights that was wildly delicious. Black Bear has been worth all the effort of getting there.

Le Corbusier’s legacy in Zlin. More insider scoop on this functionalist architecture and a look at the city from above is coming up in our next post.

At the last rays of the sun we left the bear’s home, rolled down the same hills and descended onto the city’s heart for an evening stroll back home. Good night for now and fingers crossed that our car will be fixed tomorrow, so we can continue our trip.

We are on the road again. To a destination capriciously thrown at us and pencilled in on the map by our strong-willed ride – the Rover. The ride needs an urgent pit stop, and of course it gets what it needs. By the end of this trip we (read Andreas) will have become experts on common Freelander issues and most importantly, official and unofficial dealers in Czech Republic, Hungary and Turkey that can service your car. So if ever needed, don’t be a stranger, drop us a line, the chances are that we know the right people

Workshop 1 – with the help of our lovely Airbnb hosts, we get hold of a workshop that might be able to fix the car problem. Driving 15 km north of Olomouc, we arrive at a big industrial yard, that also happens to have a car repair station. First try brings us no closer to a solution. The guy, unable to even find the computer plug on the car to run a diagnostic test, shakes his head and sends us off to an official Land Rover dealer in Zlin.

Zlin oh Zlin… A small city that we never heard of before, never planned to stop at, but one that we would end up spending the longest time in, not voluntarily… A city that would introduce us to the sweetest Czech family, bring tears of frustration to us, leave me bee-stung and on the verge of calling the whole trip off… The 3 days we spent in Zlin were full of drama that could provide for a rather amusing content for a soap opera now that I look back and down the memory lane.

Zlin has a very distinct functionalist architecture built by the shoe magnate, Thomas Bata, and inspired by Le Corbusier

But I am running ahead of things. First getting to Zlin. The trip was quite an adventure. The first 20 km went fine, then the car decided to be capricious again. It began shutting off every 10 minutes and in the end we could just drive 2 km before it had to be restarted. Very annoying and tiny bit dangerous to stop for 30 seconds in the middle of Czech roads. Though as we would learn later on the trip – if not Germany, then this country was the best place for the problem to appear. Czech drivers can still be considered civilised.

Workshop 2 – After fighting a couple of hours with the car, we finally arrive at the official dealer / repair shop, hoping that they can easily find the faulty part and provide quick help. We must have been dreaming. Apparently being an official dealer is no guarantee for expertise. We would end up coming to this place 5 times in 3 days and spend a combined 10 hours waiting for magic to happen. But let’s focus on the first visit here. The car is taken to the workshop, the hood is popped open and the diagnostic machine is hooked up.

According to the machine, the throttle body is the guilty part. So we place an order for a new body trusting that a dealer only carrying Land Rover brand knows what they are doing. The order is placed, now we just have to wait for the part to arrive, which will take 2 days. Not a major issue, as long as we get this car fixed, we are still in good time to stick to our original plan going forward. Little did we know…

Hopefully changing this little baby will get us back on the road. A new throttle body is on its way.

Content with the outcome of the day we drive to our home in Zlin – an Airbnb room in a house in the hills of the city, hosted by wonderful Alena and her son Zdena. Meeting this sweet family was one of the best experiences of our trip. For us travelling is just as much about discovering new places, as it is meeting people from cultures different from ours that leaves us with wonderful memories. Alena and Zdena did just that, and we couldn’t have been more grateful to our car for taking us to Zlin.

Now it is time to say good night, we are tired after a long day on the road and have this beautiful view of the city to fall asleep to. Tomorrow new adventures await us in Zlin.